A cross-sectional study of engineering majors' self-efficacy

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This is a cross-sectional study of 519 undergraduate engineering majors' self-efficacy beliefs at a large, research extensive, Midwestern university. Engineering self-efficacy is an individual's belief in his or her ability to successfully negotiate the academic hurdles of the engineering program. Engineering self-efficacy was obtained from four variables: self-efficacy 1, self-efficacy 2, engineering career outcome expectations, and coping self-efficacy. The four variables were analyzed using a repeated analysis of variance among levels of gender, ethnicity, years students had been enrolled in their engineering program, engineering specialty, transfer status, and freshmen interest group participation. No significant differences in mean engineering self-efficacy scores were found by gender, ethnicity, specialty, transfer status, or freshmen interest group participation. Significant differences in engineering self-efficacy were found among years students had been enrolled in the program. Significant interactions were also found due to the following: a) women had significantly lower mean coping self-efficacy scores than men; b) African Americans had significantly lower mean career outcome expectations scores; c) chemical engineering majors had significantly higher self-efficacy 2 scores than all other engineering specialties; and d) transfer students had significantly lower self-efficacy 1 scores than non-transfer students.